Who do I follow on Steem and why?

@theycallmedan put out this challenge. He asks about the bonds we have built on Steem. He suggests we select three or more people who matter to us.

I could list plenty of people. There are a few Steemians I knew before I joined in the 'real' world or on the Tsu social platform, but I have got to know many more in my 3.5 years here. I have met many of them in person at Steemfest or other events. Here are a few of them.

@detlev, @slobberchops and myself at the Steemfest 3 bowling evening.

• @katharsisdrill is an artist from Denmark who I found fairly early on when I saw his Phill From GCHQ comic. I now follow lots of comic artists, but I hit it off with this guy even though we have never met. I have bought art and some 3d printed figures from him for Steem. He has stayed active most of that time and is currently working on a physical version of his comic using a crowdfunder.
• I picked up on @slobberchops when he was starting out on Steem and struggling with it. I encouraged him to keep going. He has gone on to invest in Steem enough to reach orca level. He has become a key part of the @SteemFlagRewards anti-abuse effort and has instigated several post themes. He has recruited a few people and is working to build an urbex (urban exploring) community. We have met up at Steemfest and Steemcamp UK. We also chat a lot on other channels.
• @detlev was on Tsu and has become Mr Beer on Steem running the Beer Saturday project which has its own token. He has got involved with running the Steemfest conferences. We met up at those and shared a few beers. I also saw him when he was over in London on business. Maybe I will make it to one of his Aachen meetups one day.
• I met @revisesociology at Steemfest 3 where we did some running. As you may guess from his username he is in education, but has a wide range of interests including ecology. I have run into a lot of very smart people through Steem and the conversations when we get together are always deep. At multi-day events like Steemfest people lose their voices as there is so much to say.
• @adetorrent is a ray of light on Steem with his photography, drawings and outgoing personality. We have met numerous times and he came to my local 'crypto walk'. He is another who invested heavily in Steem. I have never been much of an investor, but I learn a lot from guys like him.

I post suggestions of people to follow (almost) every week in #FollowFriday. Steem needs better user discovery.

Steem on!